This Charming Girl
by DayForLuna
Summary: It's funny how so many things can change, when it's the girl who likes the boy. AU Read and Review! No Flames!
1. Chapter 1

It starts with those eyes. Those beautiful blue eyes. They were the saddest eyes she's ever seen. And he's on the swing by himself, unmoving.

He's only five years old, but his eyes seem as though they belong to someone much older. So she runs to him, and gives him the biggest smile she has.

He's surprised, and when she gives her name, he suddenly doesn't know his. She asks him to sit properly so she can push him on the swing but he remains still for a while, until she nudges him to move. So he does as she says, with a priceless look on his face.

"Won't your parents be mad if they see you with me?" he asks.

She says she doesn't have any. When he asks why, she says they were killed in a war, right after she was born. She swings him until he asks her to stop. She holds the ropes tightly and pulls them towards her to get them to stop faster. The sun is setting, and she doesn't want to go home. Why would she? There's nothing to go home to. So when he asks her if she wants to go to his house, she's ecstatic. And he takes her hand and sprints home, ignoring the hateful stares and surprised faces. He ran so fast that they had become a blur.

Her face is burning by the time they get to his house, she doesn't know if it's from running or because she's nervous. And she looks at all of the doors, wondering which one belonged to Naruto. And to her surprise, it was the rattiest door, with writings on it, full of bad words and hateful comments, and she thinks that no one their age should know these words, let alone have to come home to them. But he has on a blinding smile, and she thinks he can't read yet, and takes a breath for the sake of both of them, but her heart still hurts for him.

She comes face to face with a worn little kitchen table, a loud and dusty refrigerator, a tattered sofa with paint splashed on the bottom that has probably seen it's days, worn curtains with moth holes on them, and a small bed in the corner with worn and dirty sheets, so much so that she couldn't tell if they were originally white turned grey or if it was an intentional pattern.

She looks back at the door and realizes he doesn't have a lock. She looks back at him and sees him standing on a chair grabbing the only two sealed bowls on the top of a dusty shelf.

"I only have pork or beef flavored left, so which one do you want?"

He's holding them up with his tiny hands and she grins because she's only had ramen once in the short span of life she had lived so far. They eat after the boiled water has cooked the ramen thoroughly and it is somewhat cooled. He speaks of nothing at all, and all she can give are random facts of the shinobi life she had read through the big books she has at home, and he seems fascinated none the less.

When they have nothing left to talk about he asks her if she wants to stay and watch TV. She agrees, but when he turns the knobs to the channels, it's not working, and the screen remains with static.

"We can go to my house and watch TV."she offers, and she had no idea he had a bigger grin than the one he had recently given off.

She tells him to take his clothes so he can sleep over, and he scrambles to find the things he wants to take. He settles for a worn teddy bear that he pulled from under his bed and a set of pajamas that seems two sizes too big. She's already opening the door for them to leave. And it was her turn to run with him trailing behind.

Her house is a bit bigger than hers, she thinks, or it might be that the bare and clean floor makes it look bigger compared to his completely cluttered one. None the less, he looks amazed. She's already grabbing the tiny steps she has to grab one of the juice boxes she had left on the counter. She hands it to him and he seems as though he had just recieved a winning lottery ticket. She can't help but smile and grin while she goes to the TV and turns it on. And while they watch cartoons and he's poking the straw through the top of the juice box she just gave him, she suddenly feels that she wouldn't mind if he were to stay forever, and she doesn't know why her heart skips a beat, but she doesn't mind.

 **XXXX**

She punches the kids who make fun of them, and she's swinging wildly as Naruto is crying and bleeding. She grabs a large stick and swings it at the older kids, telling them to go away or she'll tell her mom, they don't know that she's bluffing, so they run. She drops the stick and hugs the boy, who is only a few inches shorter than her. She calms him down, saying that she won't let anything happen to him. He has a hard time sniffling and she grabs the hem of her shirt and asks him to blow it it. She sees the snot and blood and she feels bad.

"Let's go home."

And he didn't know when her home became _home_. But there they went, hand in hand. When she finds the key in her pocket, she opens the door for both of them. She tiptoes over a kitchen drawer to find a pink lunchbox with bunnies on the front and asks Naruto to sit down. "I'm not hungry right now Sakura-chan." he says in a small voice, but once she opens the box, he realizes it's not food in there, but small medical supplies. She places the small box on the table next to him. She takes out her small steps and gets a rag with warm water in a bowl to wash his face from the blood. When she turns back to face him with the bowl in both hands she finds him peeking over from the couch.

"Is it going to hurt?" he asks in his tiny voice.

She doesn't respond for a while.

"Yes" she finally says after a while, and she places the bowl next to the lunchbox with medical supplies. She positions a chair to face the one he had recently been sitting in and turned to the still-hiding Naruto.

"The sooner we get this over with, the sooner we can eat ramen!" she says with a grin, and he's sprinting towards the chair.

 **XXXX**

She's only seven years old, but the old woman was nice enough to give her a small job at her local grocery store. She piles up the fruits and cans in a particular way to make it look neat and organized. Being the neat and organized person she was, she didn't disappoint. She worked to keep the small house her parents left, and to keep a bit of food every week for her and Naruto. Being at the young age they were, it didn't take much to satisfy them, as their tastebuds were naive to any particular kind of taste.

She had to skip days from school a couple of times for the sake of keeping her job, but the times she was absent, she made up for by studing with the books from the academy opened so she'd be able to read while piling up the items. She encourages Naruto to go for both of them, and asks him to take notes, he usually only comes home with a couple of barely inellible sentences on a crumpled peice of paper, but she only needs to read a few of the words to find them in her books.

 **XXXX**

One day she's on her way home from the gocery store, and she sees his hair almost blurring past her. He running, he has the scarf she gave him as a birthday gift, and the green goggles he usually wore. But he's holding someone else's hand. Her smile twitches before she realizes that he's holding onto Hinata Hyuuga's hand. And she realizes he's not going home yet, because they're not facing the street where Sakura's house is. She looks down at the small pint of ice cream she has for dinner for both of them, and she's running home to make sure it doesn't melt.

 **XXXX**

He's only talking about Hinata now. The Hyuuga heiress, and her beautiful pearl-like eyes, her pretty pink cheeks, her shy habit of twidling her fingers. She finds herself agreeing with everything he's saying. And on the days Sakura's at the academy, she catches him staring and Hinata wears a red face while trying not to meet his gaze yet smiling softly to herself. "Naruto pay attention." she catches herself whispering while she stares down at her notes and realizes she only has a blank paper in front of her.

 **XXXX**

She's staring at herself and she's noticed Hinata's chest has grown a bit in the past few years. At eleven years old she would have expected to have looked the part, but she didn't see much change. She noticed this on a hot summer day, where instead of wearing her usual bulky sweater, Hinata had worn a shirt that clung to her body comfortably.

Naruto had been blushing the whole time while talking to her, as she was blushing and playing with her fingers. Sakura noticed she didn't have any of the features he had liked about Hinata. She has green eyes, not those gorgeous pearl eyes he talks about so much, he likes her beautiful porcelain skin, and she has pale skin that seems a bit too rough for her liking. Hinata has a chest almost fit for a thirteen year old, and she still has the build of an wight year old. She has beautiful well trimmed short raven colored hair, where she had choppy short hair that she trimmed herself.

"Hurry up Sakura, let's go!" Naruto rushed past her as he sprinted for the academy.

Sakura merely shook herself off and headed for the academy as though she didn't have her first epiphany.

 **XXXX**

She knew Sasuke had a troubled past. Of course he was never one to bring up anything. When she had attempted to ask he simply stared at her before calling her "annoying." They weren't very close, but whever Naruto invited Hinata to Ichiraku's she would be left alone with Sasuke, and when there wasn't small talk, which was most of the time, there was silence, and a whole lot of it. So she didn't try. But it didn't take long for it to become a ritual for them, they would sit in silence, and he would simply carry on what he was doing.

She knew that there was a tremendous amount of tension in that silence as well, it was almost suffocating, but being the kind person that she was, she let it take her as well and continued to stand next to him. It had only been by chance that she had caught him leaving the village. She knew there was no way he could stay, because it was going to be as Orochimaru said in the chuunin exam, he was going to go to him whether he wanted to or not.

"You shouldn't go." she began. "We care so much about you in the team, and you know that, we need you here. Naruto will be so devastated when he hears you left."

At the sound of Naruto's name, he paused. "... I don't care." he simply said before continuing to walk.

"... At least be safe. Don't be so reckless." she said, knowing there was no way anything she said could comfort him.

"Thank you."

And he's gone.

 **XXXX**

He doesn't cry when she tells him that he left, because he says he knows what it feels like to be alone. He didn't have anyone growing up. And it hurts her like hell, but she agrees. He slings an arm around her shoulders.

"We'll get him back. Don't worry Sakura, it's a promise."

And she knows it's true. But suddenly she didn't know if he was doing this for them or for her specifically.

 **XXXX**

This was it, their first grand festival is coming up. The Sakura festival. It had actually been a while since the village had decided to celebrate any festival this big. She's taking a deep breath before she wants to ask him. It's only going to be a few months before Jiraya takes him to train. She won't see him for a while, but she knows it'll be worth it when she sees him again. She's been waiting all year and she finally has a day from work to finally ask him out.

"Sakura! Sakura!" she hears him call.

He's bursted through the door in uncontrollable energy, the same he's been throughout the-

"She said yes!" and he's ecstatic.

"Huh?" she can't seem to comprehend.

"Hinata said yes! She's going to the festival with me!" He's suddenly rummaging through the piles of clothes he has in the corner of his room in their apartment.

She didn't say anything for a while. She realized it's been a while since he's looked this happy since Sasuke had left.

"That's great!" she's plastering on that fake smile, the one that those all knowing eyes of his can't detect. She's suddenly helping him decide what to wear. And she keeps looking even when Naruto stops to take a shower, because he knows she'll do him the favor of helping him find a suitible outfit for the festival.

So she does.

 **XXXX**

He's hugging Hinata by the waist before he leaves, and she's hugging him around his neck, and they've been that way for a while. Jiraya's trying to contain a perverted smirk by covering his mouth in a child-like fashion. Kakashi is back to his book while she stands next to him. She sees Naruto walk up to her and stands in front of her.

"Take care of yourself, yeah?" she says as he hugs her the way a comrade would another.

He quickly detaches himself and gives her a blinding grin as he nods and goes back in for an even quicker hug before running off to follow Jiraya, who had already turned away. And she's watching him walk away. There was nothing else to do, and nothing left to say. Or at least, that was how she felt. The whole time she stared at him though, she felt Kakashi's ever-observant eye on her.

She's walking away as though she didn't have a care in the world once the village doors close. But as soon as Kakashi's body turns the other direction and he's no longer in sight, she's running as fast as she can. She runs all the way to the Hokage tower to come face to face with the fifth Hokage herself, who put down the paper work she had been reading as she glared at her for bursting through the door in such a rude manner. She doesn't wait to catch her breath and says what she wants to say all in one go.

"Please make me your apprentice."

 **To Be Continued**

 ***So many spelling errors but I wanted to post it ASAP so I can finally work towards updating** **. Sorry! Next one will be thoroughly reviewed before being posted. -_-"**

 **Hi everyone! I know it's been a hell of a long time but I've been super busy and I haven't had a drive to write lately. Anyways, this story has been piling and piling in my head since the Manga ended. I've always been an SS fan but suddenly, now that it happened, it's not really driving me to write anything about them, I'm sorry to say. So for the sake of wanting something new I came up with this! It's going to take place in an alternate past for a bit before we go into the way present, and then a bit ahead of that. Be ready for some really depressing reads though. :/ Let me know what you think! NOOO FLAMES! I'll try to upload weekly so you guys get a new chapter. I have a LOT of plans for this one and I have some ideas jotted down. Thanks so much for reading and have a good day/night! ^-^**


	2. Chapter 2

When he arrives, she's already there waiting. She has her pink hair cropped short and her new shinobi uniform for everyday. He's running and grinning at her, and her heart can't help but skip a beat as he runs up to her and gives her a giant bear hug. Her heart feels like it's about to explode at that point. And she's missed him dearly. Her one true friend.

And it feels selfish when she words it as such, but it was the only truth she knew dear to her heart. But she knows he's had the rest of the world as his friend now. He's already done so much for the people in his village. He cherishes them more than anything. And in return they have finally found room for him in all of their hearts.

"Sakura-chan!" he's screaming in her ear, and he has so much to tell her, as she does to him.

She's managed to tell him almost everything about becoming Tsunade's pupil, about working in the hospital, about being Chunin. He's excited to tell her of all of his adventures and what he had been up to alongside his "pervert" of a teacher. And then he stops talking altogether and is looking right past her. And she turns as well to see what he's looking at. It's a woman, beautiful pearl-like eyes, raven black silk locks down to her waist and even with a sweater and all she could tell she had reached practically full maturity in all the right places.

Hinata's looking at him, blushing like mad, looking absolutely adorable. Sakura gives a weak smile at her direction, but she knows Hinata's not paying attention. She knows that Hinata had worked so hard, to be strong enough for him, to be worthy of him, not knowing she had already taken his heart easily. Sakura's not in their prescence anymore, they only have eyes for each other.

"Oh, I almost forgot! I have to go to meet with Tsunade in a few minutes so I should go get ready." she's quick to make an excuse and she has a feeling Naruto barely even heard her as he's already walking to Hinata. Sakura can't help but sigh as she begins to walk away.

XXXX

They take the bells from Kakashi this time, and it was because they were almost in sync with each other. Knowing that their Sensei hated spoilers and no matter how childish the win had felt, they had never felt more empowered by such a small victory. They're walking home together and laughing and Sakura feels like she's on top of the world again.

And even if just for a moment, she lets the feeling consume her along with the feelings she's been trying so hard to repress. Naruto's looking ahead, admiring the view of the people he cherishes so much. She's looking at him and his blue eyes clouded with adoration, none of which was for her.

XXXX

They're assigned missions now and again, and he hasn't given up on looking for Sasuke. She knows this because he had reminded her that no matter what, "[he] will bring Sasuke home for her." She wants to tell him not to do it for her, that she knows how close they were, because he had been alone as well (no matter how much she believes the statement to be untrue, that she had been there with them as well.) Naruto has finally met Sai and he hates him because he calls him "dickless." Sakura shakes her head and she's avoiding the argument as Kakashi is taking the lead on their mission.

XXXX

When she goes home, it's always alone, she doesn't quite know when Naruto stopped calling her home his own, but his belongings slowly leave with his scent. She figures he's moved back to his old apartment, although never having been invited again since they were kids, she does hope that he had cleaned it since she last saw it. In the next couple of weeks, he's out and about with Hinata, and she looks like she's about to go into cardiac arrest with how red her face is. He doesn't mind, because he gives her the same look with the same adoration he gives the rest of the village. Sakura watches sadly, knowing there was not much left to do. She couldn't help but wish that she'd get the same look, at least for just a moment. She walks away, pretending she didn't witness anything. Knowing fully well it'll break her when she accepts it.

XXXX

The day comes when they're at arms length of Sasuke, but they find he wants nothing to do with them. He's about to kill Naruto and said blonde is too shocked to even move. In the end, Kakashi saves the day when he finally arrives and Sasuke disappears. Naruto doesn't speak to anyone for the next few hours and when Sakura's finally alone with him, he finally looks at her. "I know this isn't him, it can't be him." She doesn't try to console him becuase she knows he won't listen. Instead, he comes right back up on his own, and he's ready to try again, with new determination in his eyes. She can't help but remember just why he's taken such a big part of her heart.

XXXX

"You love him." she hears Lady Chiyo say.

"What?" Sakura is all but surprised at this statement.

"You heard me." the woman says as they're approaching the place where it is now known that Gaara has been taken to.

"I-do not." she's stating in a not-too-certain tone.

"But he doesn't see you, does he?" she asks, completely ignoring Sakura's statement of denial.

It's a bit quiet for the rest of the travel, and Sakura's watching Naruto in front of her. He hasn't spoken much, his golden hair is flowing behind him at the rate he's going. And she knows he's absolutely determined and that nothing will come in his way.

Sakura smiles, "he is my dear friend, and I would do anything to protect that." she finally states.

"Does he know that?" she asks. Sakura smiles in response and continues to follow the path that Naruto and Kakashi are creating. Lady Chiyo has grown silent, but Sakura still feels her eyes watching. But there's no time left to think, because they've reached their destination, and Sakura doesn't know if they'll come out of it alive.

 **A/N: Hi everyone! I've returned from slumber. I've been on and off again with my drive to write unfortunately. But for whatever the reason, THIS FRICKEN STORY WON'T LEAVE MY HEAD! I planned to completely fall off the face of the story world but dammit this idea is too friggen persistent! I'm dying to get it out already! Anyways, this is yet another chapter of many. I finally have a bit more time to write. Working two jobs now but still finding my time to add another job to this list lol. Please leave nice comments and let me know what you guys think! No flames please, I'm not on any sole ship here but it won't be that way for long! This crap is going to get really depressing, as it has depressed my soul as I have kept it inside. ^-^" Not to worry people! I do plan on skipping ahead after a few chapters! Bare with me please! Love you all! XD**


	3. Chapter 3

In one moment, Lady Chiyo is there by her side, defeating Sasori and finding Gaara. In the next, she's holding her to her chest as her warmth leaves her body. Gaara rises and stares at her as she holds what is left of Lady vows to protect the village and to love the people in it as Naruto loves his own. Sakura helps the people carry Lady Chiyo away. And when they begin the long journey home, she's quiet.

XXXX

They're waiting for the next strike from the Akatsuki. It's close and they feel it looming over the village. Naruto is still smiling and the village is still not yet convinced that this boy will be the man they need to protect them. They're by the bridge when she wants to gather the courage to tell him something, anything at this point.

"Hey" she calls out to him.

Sai knows not to look up from his sketch because he can't feel her directing her words at him. "What's up Sakura?" Naruto smiles that smile he gives everyone.

It's the common smile that she knows so well. One that's different from the one he gives Hinata. "Did you… want to go get some ramen after the mission?" She's not too nervous. It goes away a bit more every time she asks.

"Sure!" He grins.

She almost drops her smile as her eyes slightly widen. Kakashi finally makes his way to them. And not long after, they take off.

XXXX

She tries to be not too obvious about the thrill she has inside. She dresses up but tries not to make it seem too obvious. She's frantically running her fingers through her short hair and putting on a plain blue tee with a black skirt. She doesn't like wearing makeup so she leaves it out. She's quickly locking her door and sprinting to the ramen shop. When she's close enough, she sees that shock of yellow hair that stands out from all the rest. He's not looking at her and as she slows down to walk the rest of the way she sees why. Those pearl eyes that never seem to miss anything land on her and Hinata gives her a nervous smile. Sakura's smiles too, but she doesn't really feel too well all of a sudden.

"Hey!" She tells them both.

"Sakura, you made it! Look! Hinata-chan tagged along!" Hinata looks like she's about to faint.

"That's great! Uh, I just came to tell you that I'm not feeling too well so I'm just going to skip out on this one." Sakura's practically sweating as she rubs the back of her neck nervously and smiles sheepishly. Naruto doesn't look the slightest bit disappointed.

"No worries! We can rain check this one!" He might even have been just a bit happier about it.

"Yeah… rain check." She smiles as she says goodbye and promptly leaves toward the direction of her home.

XXXX

When Pein finally makes his move to attempt to extract the Kyuubi from Naruto's being, his comrades are right by his side to protect him. Sakura remains right by his side to attempt to fend off any attack. And in only seconds, all they see are remnants of the village as Pein begins to attack.

"Sakura! We need your help!" She hears from afar. She turns to Naruto, as though she might not have his approval.

"Go, I'll be fine. I still have Kurama, remember?" Naruto is the most serious she has ever seen him, and she can't see the little boy in his eyes anymore.

She's running as fast as she can, because the sooner she can begin, the sooner she can finish and return to protect Naruto. And she has a horrible knot in her stomach, she's about to lose him, she can almost feel it on her fingertips. She's trying not to think the worst but the tears are suddenly sliding down before she can blink them away as she works fast to heal as many citizens as she can. It's hours when she finally has everything under control and she's running from the area making sure that the slugs she had summoned are able to handle the rest of the minor injuries.

She's tired, too tired to fight, but she knows she'll die trying to make sure Naruto remains safe. She's suddenly remembering the years they spent by themselves, taking care of each other and her vision is too blurry to see through so she's blinking as many of the tears away as she can. She doesn't know how, but she knows where to go and she knows he's still fighting.

When she reaches the area that he's in, she sees him pinned down by what appear to be pipes. She's about to step in, when she sees Hinata appear and in a fighting stance. When she starts, she's graceful, but Pein can see each one of her moves and strikes against every single one. Hinata seems so fragile, such a small princess trying to fend off someone so powerful all on her own. And when she speaks to answer to Naruto why she keeps standing when she gets knocked down and why she keeps trying, she repeats the same words Naruto has been saying all those years and she finally tells him why she won't give up.

Sakura doesn't want to hear why, because she already knows the reason, and yet she can hear everything almost is in shock as Hinata makes her final attempts to save him before she is lifted from the ground and forced back down so hard the earth practically shatters beneath her. Naruto stares on, in disbelief, and suddenly, he turns red. Sakura watches, unmoving as things take a sudden turn for their enemy, and he continues to get further and further away, with absolutely no control because of Hinata.

Sakura moves quickly and runs to Hinata because she knows the feeling that's growing in the pit of her stomach, it makes her uneasy and she won't admit that she's as sadistic enough to be jealous because of such a thing, that something like this can suddenly turn Naruto into an almost full fledged demon when she knows he's suffered far worse. She quickly shuts her thoughts out and reaches Hinata to begin to heal her.

XXXX

When the attack finally ends, they all find out that in the end, Naruto had come to save everyone by offering his hand in peace, as though he were already a Hokage himself. When he returns, he's running straight to Sakura as she continues to look over the overjoyed citizens as they see their savior.

"Where is she?" He asks her suddenly.

Sakura smiles and points over to the area where Hinata was now sitting up. Her jacket has been removed and she has on a black net shirt with a black top under it showing just how tiny her frame was and how astounding it had been that she had endured so much. When Naruto's eyes land on hers and her pearl ones look right back at his, he grins as she gives him a rare smile. Sakura watches and gives a small smile as well knowing very well that they don't see anything else except each other.

 **A/N: Not as fast as I would like to upload but oh well. I have two jobs and barely get a day off don't judge me. :( On the bright side I figured out how to use my new phone to upload chapters! So excited because now I can upload anywhere and anytime I have a new idea for a chapter I can just jot it down and publish from my phone! Anyways, this is going by really fast paced because I don't want to concentrate too much on this part of the timeline. Hope you all enjoyed this chapter! Next one will take place from the Naruto the Last movie. Once we get to their weddings then I can pretty much slow things down after the next chapter. Trust me, I'm suffering right now but it's going to get worse before it gets better. ^~^" Review and I would appreciate no flames but hey, to each his own.**


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